Sunday, May 29, 2005

Over the River(s) and Thru the Woods

For those of you who are wondering about the gap in my otherwise prolific blogging habit, it is because I am in the midst of a cross-country drive. My mom and I started the long drive from PA to MT on Friday afternoon after filling every square inch of my car with my stuff. I do not exaggerate. It's mostly books, but man, I have a lot of stuff!

Observations along the way:

Turnpike driving generally gets cheaper the further West you go.

I never thought I'd see the day I was excited about gas under $2, but it was under $2 in parts of Ohio and we were amazed.

McDonalds salads are better than Burger King salads.

We're spending two nights in Chicago with my brother. Chicago is such a fun city - big city life style, but the people still have traces of midwest friendliness. Since I spent 4 years in MI, this feels comfortably familiar to me.

Along similar lines, drivers here are much less aggressive than they are in PA. I find myself being a very rude driver, but I'm just doing the things I've been doing in Philly for the last 3 years.

He lives one block from Wrigley field, so as I relaxed on the couch this afternoon, I could hear the crowds cheering the Cubs to victory over Colorado. Cool.

Enough of our trip has reminded me of specific songs that I'm going to try to make a "soundtrack" of our trip using songs that mention places through which I've driven.

As I was looking for a church to attend this morning, I automatically went to the PCA homepage; 5 years ago, I'd barely heard of the PCA! What is more, the church we went to was multi-ethnic (predominantly Korean), a church plant (Redeemer model), and one of the pastors was a WTS grad. 3 years ago, none of those would have meant anything to me, but now each of those factors was significant.

Upon reflection, I find it hard to believe that it was so simple to just get up and leave behind my life in Philly -- my friends, my school, my dwelling place. The fact that those things are so far away seems like an abstraction. Many thanks, however, to those people who sent me well-wishes on the event of my graduation. I had a wonderful time and felt very blessed all last week. I shall treasure those memories for many years to come.

Are you taking the Southern route (I-90)?When ever I take the Northern route (94), I like to stop at the Rest Stop just this side of the North Dakota border, get out breathe the air and feel the dirt. Home:)I also try to time so I catch the sunrise there. Incredible.Welcome back from the Shadowlands.

About Me

Lover of my husband, kids, travel, dogs, mountains, photography, reading, movies, gardening, white chocolate mochas, theology, history, languages and cooking. Most importantly, I'm learning more and more how to be a lover of my Lord and His people.